For you to qualify for H-1B status, your job must require the use of highly
specialized knowledge, such as that learned through studying for a bachelor's or
higher degree in a particular specialty.

Your job will generally qualify if the normal minimum requirement for entry into
the particular position is a bachelor's degree or its equivalent, or if other
employees in the same position in your company or industry typically hold at
least a bachelor's degree. Even if the occupation generally does not require a
bachelor's degree, your particular position may qualify if the job is so complex
or unique that only a person with a degree can perform the necessary duties.

Positions that are traditionally considered “professional” positions usually
qualify as H-1B specialty occupations. These include positions such as
architects, engineers, lawyers, physicians, and teachers, as well as
accountants, computer professionals, social workers, medical technologists,
dietitians, economists, mechanical engineers, librarians, etc. Some other
occupations clearly qualify, and some others clearly do not qualify. In between,
there are many positions that could go either way, depending on the
circumstances and preparation of the case.

For more information about the qualifications needed for H-1B visas generally,
please see our H-1B Visas page.

Although new H-1B status for any fiscal year does not become effective until
October 1 of that year, your employer is allowed to file your H-1B petition as
early as April 1 of that year. For example, if you want to obtain H-1B status to
start working on October 1, 2009 (i.e., for Fiscal Year 2010), it is critical
that your employer file your H-1B petition as soon as possible after the USCIS
opens its doors for these new petitions on April 1, 2009.

Of course, to actually file in time to receive an H-1B visa number this year,
your employer needs to start preparing your H-1B petition before April 1, 2009,
because it takes time to prepare these petitions, and everyone else will be
trying to file theirs at the same time.

If you miss the current year’s H-1B allocation, you will generally have to wait
again for the following April for an H-1B petition for that October (i.e., you
have to wait for 18 months instead of 6 months to start working in H-1B status).

Fortunately, under current law, the answer is yes. In years past, the answer
was no, then yes, then no, and finally yes again, and that is where it is
currently. Since 2008, if you win the H-1B lottery, then your F-1 OPT status is
automatically extended until October 1, which will be the first day of your H-1B
status. This is one of the few major headaches the government has eliminated
with respect to the H-1B cap.

Fortunately, under current law (i.e., with the automatic F-1 OPT status
extension for those who win the H-1B lottery), the timing of your graduation has
generally become less of an issue. Before 2008, one could try to avoid the H-1B
"cap gap" problem (i.e., the need to leave the country between the time your OPT
expired in late summer and your new H-1B status started on October 1) by
graduating in December instead of May/June.

If you are a so-called "STEM" graduate (i.e., if your degree is in science,
technology, engineering, or mathematics), a December graduation could give you
three chances at the H-1B lottery instead of just two chances. This is an
exception to the general guidance above that graduate dates generally do not
matter any more.

Specifically, if you graduated with a STEM degree in December, you could
apply in the April H-1B lottery while in still F-1 OPT and if you lost that lottery, you
could continue working in OPT and later on apply for a 17-month OPT extension.
The 17-month extension would allow you to petition for H-1B again in April. Then
just before the very end of your 17-month extension (i.e., in the month before
your OPT expires in May), you could file your third and final H-1B petition, and if you finally won
this one, you could receive the "automatic" OPT "cap gap" extension that everyone gets if
they win the H-1B lottery (i.e., even if they are not STEM graduates). Aside
from this example, the date of your graduation generally does not matter for
your H-1B
lottery efforts.